Salesforce forecasts profit below expectations

(Reuters) - Salesforce.com Inc (CRM.N) forecast fourth-quarter profit slightly below market expectations, hurting its shares even as profits and revenues rose on the back of strong demand for its cloud-based sales and marketing software.

San Francisco-based Salesforce said on Tuesday that it expected fourth-quarter adjusted profit of 32 cents to 33 cents per share and revenue of $2.80 billion to $2.81 billion.

Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 34 cents per share on revenue of $2.79 billion for the fourth quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

“This is not saying that business is strong,” said Kim Forrest, vice president at Fort Pitt Capital Group. “It could be that the company is just setting the bar low, but investors are taking a dim view of this.”

Demand for Salesforce’s cloud-based services has soared as companies look to reduce data storage costs, but analysts said the company must offer new products to attract customers.

“At this point, anyone who wants to use Salesforce already uses it, so without new offers, growth will be harder and harder to come by,” said Adam Sarhan of investment advisory service 50 Park Investments.

Salesforce’s shares were down 1.75 percent in after-hours trading at $106.90.

Revenue from Sales Cloud, the company’s flagship product, rose 17 percent to $906.5 million in the third quarter.

Due to strong international sales, the growth outpaced the same quarter last year, when Salesforce’s deferred revenue rose 23 percent year-on-year.

For the third quarter, Salesforce’s revenue in Europe was up 33 percent year-to-year while its Asia Pacific business grew by 27 percent. The Americas, by comparison, were up just 21 percent year-to-year.

“We’re making a huge push into the international markets,” said Chief Operating Officer Keith Block. “That is clearly paying off.”

Salesforce has boosted spending on research and development as well as marketing and sales in the face of intense competition from companies such as Oracle Corp (ORCL.N) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O).

Initiatives like Salesforce’s Einstein, its artificial intelligence platform, and its 2016 $750 million acquisition of productivity startup Quip “keep putting fuel in the growth engine,” said Daniel Ives at research firm GBH Insights.

Net income was $51.4 million, or 7 cents per share, in the third quarter ended Oct. 31, compared with a loss of $37.3 million, or 5 cents per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned 39 cents per share, beating analysts’ average estimate of 37 cents per share.